Faceless
by GAMEONREDLAZER
Summary: Repost of the original story hosted by GAMEONGREENLAZER for me. The Forest houses dark things. First fanfic. Flames and other constructive criticism are appreciated!
1. Slender rising

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 1- Slender Rising

Ichigo looked around at the dark forest that had suddenly surrounded him. He had absolutely no idea how he had gotten here. One minute he was fighting a hollow, the next he ended up here. He sighed, and with a scowl that, if anyone had been around to see it, would have scared the wits out of grown men, he began to walk forward, hoping that if he was lucky, he might be able to get out of here. He could only hope that Rukia wasn't in the same position that he was. As he walked, he thought back to what had happened just before the forest appeared.

_In theory, the mission was very simple. A group of hollows had been spotted on the outskirts of Karakura town, and had been attacking those entering the town at night. He and Rukia had been ordered to purify the hollows, and report back to Soul Society. It was a very cut and dry thing in Ichigos' opinion. Everything had gone according to plan. He and Rukia had found the hollows hide away and purified them. They were about to fight the leader, when all of a sudden, the leader began to turn black. The spirit energy of the hollow increased exponentially, going from a weak hollow to above a captain level shinigami in mere seconds. Ichigo knew that he had to move quickly, activating his Ban-kai and attacking the hollow. Just before his attack struck, the hollow suddenly exploded into black spirit particles… and then he appeared in the forest._

Ichigo continued walking, unable to make sense of it all. Purifying hollows was not supposed to teleport him to other places. There was absolutely no way that it could be possible, yet here he was, walking through a pitch black forest in the middle of the night, with nothing but crickets to keep him company, and no idea where in the world he was. "Oi, Zangetsu." he spoke to his zanpakuto. After receiving no response from his sword, he again asked, "Zangetsu?" He began to get an eerie feeling. At the very least Shiro, his hollow, should have spoken up with some snide comment, yet he hadn't received any sort of response. He stopped walking, and searched his inner world, attempting to find even a vague trace of them. Nothing. This was worrying. Without Zangetsu, he couldn't go ban-kai if needed, and going hollow form was out of the question.

He had no idea where he was in relation to Karakura, and he needed to get home so that he could report to old man Yamamoto about the status of the mission. The mission was definitely more important than walking through a dark forest in the middle of the night. At any rate, he couldn't use any of his Soul Reaper powers that required Zangetsu, meaning that he could only shun-po and use his sword in its unreleased state. Basically, his fighting instincts were all he had. _**Lets hope that extra training with Kenpachi pays off, **_Ichigo thought to himself He may not like the man, but Ichigo had to admit, he sure knew how to sword fight.

He emerged from the forest after about 15 minutes of walking forward. There seemed to be a trail cutting straight through the forest. He looked at it, not sure of which way to go, then decided to go left. After walking a ways, he came upon what appeared to be a campsite. He could make out some tents put up, and a roaring campfire. _**People**_, Ichigo thought with relief, _**there are people here who can tell me where I am. Then I can go home. **_He ran over to the campfire, thoughts of home rising to the surface of his mind, thoughts of his sisters, Karin and Yuzu. Then he stopped and stood in front of the campfire, all of his hopes dashed, and a feeling of foreboding in its place. There was no one here. No bodies, no souls. Yet there was an air of intense fear surrounding this campsite. Something terrible had happened here, but what was it? It was mysterious. Obviously, the event was fairly recent, yet there were no signs of anything living within a mile of his location.

He began to check the tents in the hopes of finding any clues as to what had happened here. In three of the tents, he found nothing but camping supplies. In the fourth, however, Ichigo saw what appeared to be a very new digital voice recorder. The voice recorder had a note in English taped to it. After, a moment of attempting to translate the note, he began to feel fear. A lot of it too. Not the sort of fear that comes from being intimidated by someone, like a bully. This was the mindless, instinctual fear that one gets when facing something that can kill them, that they KNOW can kill them, and will, very easily, without any amount of effort on the part of the attacker. Because what was written on the note was one three letter word, scrawled in big, blood red letters:

**RUN**


	2. It follows

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 2- It Follows

Ichigo looked at the note he held in his hand. He turned and exited the tents that he had been kneeling inside and looked around warily, unsheathing Zangetsu as he patrolled. He thought he saw a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked for it, he couldn't find it, finally dismissing it as his imagination. Ichigo ripped of the note and placed it in the campfire, intending to listen to the voice recorder (if there was anything on it). Suddenly, a wave of pure FURY hit him with the power of a truck, causing him to flinch and almost toss the recorder into the fire. The power disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared as the small page burned down to ash. The Substitute shinigami sat there, almost paralyzed at the power that had been unleashed at him. He slowly picked up the voice recorder and hesitantly pressed the play button. The voice of a happy sounding young man began to play out over the small speakers on the recorder. Thanks to Urahara and Yoruichi teaching him English in his free time, he understood what was being said.

_March 10__TH__ - 'Ha ha! We have finally arrived! People are such skeptics about our trade. They think that we don't know whats out there. We're not kids anymore. I don't get why people say that this area is haunted anyway. It certainly doesn't look the part. But it doesn't matter. Were going to find this ghost and show the world that spirits are real. Our cameras should be able to capture this ghost on film, for the first time in America! Were making history today, guys!'_

_**Well, it looked like some ghost hunter and his friends decided it would be fun to come out here and find some spirits**__. _Ichigo shook his head. These people must have been idiots. He could not understand what drove people to do stuff like this. Did they think it was funny? Anyway, the man said America. Ichigo scowled. _**Does that mean that I was teleported all the way across an ocean by that hollow? Things just get better and better, don't they? **_He began to listen to the next entry in the series. After getting white noise for a while, he thought he heard a new entry beginning.

_March 16__TH__- '"Joe, the cameras are messing up, we cant see anything. All we're getting is static."' 'Let me do my journal and I'll fix it when I'm done, okay? The cameras are acting a bit freaky, especially at night. There is all this static on our screens and this weird buzzing sound that won't go away. Maybe the local people were right and this place is haunted. Either way, we have to come back with something. I can imagine all of the kids laughing at us if we came back empty handed. Anyway, Alicia! Where are those cameras you needed fixed?… Alicia? Alicia! __**ALICIA! **_(**static**)

_**What was that? **_Ichigo wondered, _**The kid sounded almost panicked towards the end.**_ He tried to listen to another entry, but there was too much static for him to hear it. He pressed stop, intending to listen to more of it later, if he got the chance. Something wasn't right about these woods. He thought about going to Soul Society, and tried to open a Seikamon gate. He raised his zanpakuto into the air, saying the word "Unlock." The sword began to glow, and a seikamon gate appeared. It began to open, when all of a sudden, another wave of vicious rage washed over the campsite, nearly twice as powerful as before, destroying the gate and throwing Ichigo to the ground. He slowly stood up, looked forward and froze. Standing in front of him, not more than 10 feet away was the most bizarre sight Ichigo had ever seen.

It was a tall man, easily a foot taller than Ichigo, with very thin arms and legs. He was wearing a two piece Italian suit and tie, obviously expensive. Yet the most difficult things for Ichigo to wrap his mind around were the fact that the man had no face, and cast no shadow behind him, instead casting it in front of him, black as pitch, despite standing in front of a roaring campfire. Which, further bewildering the teen, seemed to have gotten… bigger? He hadn't been feeding the fire since he got to the campsite, yet the fire was easily twice as large as it had been. He finished getting up, and held Zangetsu in his fighting stance. "Who are you?" The creature only looked at him(was it really looking at him when it had no eyes?) and said nothing. Ichigo scowled. "Answer me! If you don't, I guess I'll have to force it out of you!" The creature again said nothing, merely stretching its shoulders as if inviting him to try. Ichigo raised his sword. Something was going on, and he was going to find out what it was. He had no doubt that whatever was in front of him was the person (_**Or thing, **_he thought to himself) who sealed Zangetsu and Shiro away. He would have to win this fight on his own, but he could do it. He had to. It was the only way that he was ever going to see his friends and family again. He took one step forward. Then another.


	3. It doesn't die

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 3- It doesn't die

Ichigo leapt at the creature in front of him, letting all of his energy collect in his sword. He may not be able to go ban-kai in this fight, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't use reiatsu in his attacks. Thanks once again to his teachers, he had found a way to use his spirit energy to strengthen his strikes. This way, if he couldn't use Getsuga Tensho or release his zanpakuto, he wouldn't be next to useless in battle, it was another precaution that he used to protect those that he cared about.

Ichigos' attack cut straight through the creatures raised arm and cut halfway into its head. It fell down, blood gushing out of both the arm and the head. Ichigo, reached to pull out Zangetsu, glancing down as he did so. Zanpakuto in hand he quickly backed up, staring, unable to look away, scarcely breathing, as the horror of what he had done squeezed the breath from his lungs. It was Rukias face. Rukia. He just killed Rukia. Somehow, that thing had managed to switch with Rukia just before he killed it. Then she began to melt away, dissolving into particles that floated in the air until there was no trace of her body left. He looked on in astonishment as the particles began to reform, becoming the slender man that Ichigo could have sworn he dealt a death blow.

The man stood there, and his shadow **MOVED.** Ichigo almost thought that he was going crazy for a moment, until it began to move towards him. The shadow became black tentacles that completely surrounded the slender man and all of them moved towards Ichigo at the same time. Ichigo swore and began to shun-po away. He couldn't beat this monster, not the way that he was now. It was obvious that physical attacks wouldn't work on that creature. Heck, he wasn't even sure that _Bakudo #99 _could do it, not if the creature could reform itself at will. He had sliced open its head, for gods sake, and it was still alive and kicking, seeming no worse for wear. That it could look like an of his friends and family too…he didn't think that he could bring himself to hurt something that looked like Yuzu. This creature… terrified him. He didn't think that he had been this scared since Grand Fisher killed his mother.

Ichigos thoughts were interrupted by the slithering sound of the tentacles. They were catching up, and there was no way he could outrun them, not even with shun-po. He slashed wildly at the tentacles as they began to surround him, but more took their place. In a last ditch effort to save himself he quickly turned and shouted, with his palms facing outwards "_Bakudo #9: Geki!"._ A beam of light shot from his open palms, hitting the center of the roiling mass of black tentacles, hitting the man in the chest. The tentacles disappeared, but the creature remained seemingly unharmed, healing its wound in the same manner that it had reformed its head and arm, it wound becoming dust and reforming to leave a flawless Italian suit with no evidence that it had even been touched. The creature just would not die. Ichigo knew that he had to escape somehow, or he was dead meat. But where could he possibly go?

He peered ahead, thankful for the small lead on the man that the kido spell had given him. There was a structure up ahead, what appeared to be a bathroom of some sort. He ran to the entrance, stopped and turned around, to find the faceless man was no longer following him. At least that he could see. He stepped into the bathroom and slipped and fell on his face. Cursing his luck, he looked to see what had tripped him, and found a flashlight just out of his reach. He sighed in relief. A source of light, any source of light in this dark place was welcome. Hopefully , the flashlight wasn't drained or broken. He flipped the switch on the side, and the warm florescent light of the bulb shined brightly, showering him with relief.

He moved farther into the structure, which judging from the smell, was intended to be a lavatory of some sort, although there were no toilets to be seen. A flash of white out of the corner of his eye caused him to look over at a wall where another of the strange papers that he had seen at the campsite rested on the wall. He shivered at the words as he read them, knowing how true they were.

**It** **doesn't die.**

Ichigo couldn't imagine why anyone would want to continue living after seeing that horrible specter. _If anyone had actually gotten out of these woods alive, Ichigo thought, they would definitely have had nightmares for years. Speaking of which… I had forgotten about the recorder. _He looked down at the small bulge resting in his pocket._ Maybe it can tell me something. Something to help me get out of this place. Something to get me home._


	4. Blank Truth

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 4- Blank Truth

Ichigo pressed the button on the side, allowing the records to resume playing. After some static from the recorder, the next entry began to play.

_March 21__ST__ - Alicia is gone. Disappeared into thin air, almost. She just disappeared. We've been searching for her for a little under a week, and the crews getting tired. Michael and David have given her up for dead, and Trisha can't stop crying about her. Five days. that's how long we've been looking. Could the rumors of spiritual activity have been true? Now I am starting to hope that it is just a hoax, because I have the feeling that this isn't the only loss that we'll be having. If we don't find Alicia in two days, I am gonna have to leave without her.(Sighs) We should never have come here._

_ March 22__ND__- Trisha left. She claims that she won't leave without her sister, and there is nothing that I can do to change her mind. She thinks that maybe she'll be able to find her sister when we can't. Oh, do I hope. I wonder how the family back home is doing. Hopefully, my children are driving my wife crazy. I can't wait to get back home. In any case, if we leave tomorrow, we can probably come across a police statio- Wait. Was that…!?(Static)_

Ichigo quickly lowered the sound as the static increased in pitch. It sounded like something bad had happened to the man. Maybe the creature chasing Ichigo was responsible for the disappearances plaguing the man. That was always a possibility when it came to No face. Ichigo wouldn't put it past the creature to abduct people. After all, it had tried to grab him. Ichigo ripped down the paper from the wall and turned around suddenly, expecting the suited man to be behind him. But there was no sign of him, not even as Ichigo left the bathroom.

It had gotten darker outside (is that even possible!?)and a thick blanket of fog had rolled in while Ichigo had been in the bathroom. He looked straight into the fog, grabbing Zangetsu as he did so. There, in front of him, was the suited man. He seemed to regard Ichigo, before stepping forward. He began walking towards the orange haired teen, and stopped about ten feet away. The surface of his face began to twitch and the tentacles covered him until he was completely covered in the mass of black. The motion of the tentacles stopped, then they withdrew, revealing the one man Ichigo had hoped to never see again. Aizen.

Except that it wasn't him. The form was exactly the same as when Ichigo had seen him betray the Soul Society, glasses and all. However the aura matched that of the faceless man. Ichigo thought back to when he first fought the suit, when he seemed to turn into Rukia at the last minute. He scowled. Somehow, this thing could shape shift. Then the not-Aizen spoke, and it was like the weight of the entire world was placed on Ichigos shoulders, forcing him to the ground. The voice was nothing like Aizens own. The voice that spoke now was like the voice of god passing judgment on him.

"You are trespassing on my hunting grounds soul reaper. You are not allowed to interfere with any of my actions, thus you have no right to be here. What have you to say in defense of yourself and your actions?" said the not-Aizen. Ichigo struggled to get up of the ground, a struggle which apparently amused the man in no small way. He smirked, then chuckled, then began to laugh, great loud laughs, laughs that scared Ichigo so much that he nearly fell back to the ground. The laughter of this creature made Shiro look like some bodies pet squirrel in terms of terror. The suits laughter has not light and happy, but heavy and murderous, laughter that spoke of more than a few horrible deaths. Ichigo attempted to compose himself enough to reply to the being, but it was very difficult to do so. The being smirked, saying "don't even bother, I know what happened. I am willing to allow you passage out of my grounds, but first you must survive my game. The notes that you collected, they are from my previous victims. Collect them all, but don't destroy them. If you do, I will kill you without hesitation." He smiled mirthlessly "Well now, you don't want to die right here, do you. _**RUN.**_" Ichigo took one last look at the not Aizen, and began to run away. But not before he heard the last shout from the man. " Oh, and by the way, its SLENDER."


	5. Dream a little dream

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 5- Dream a little dream

Ichigo stopped running about an hour after he had left the creature "Slender" , and the experience had rattled him like nothing else in his life before. It was ridiculous! Fighting dozens of enhanced Arrancar? Walk in the park. Getting his chest blown to pieces by Ulquiorra? Nothing to it. Fighting a faceless man in an Italian suit? That just happens to be able to shape shift? And look in your head? And control shadows? And freaking teleport? Nope. Uh uh. Ichigo shivered at the memory of that creatures spiritual pressure. It was like when he went to the Royal realm. The spiritual pressure surrounding the place was magnificent, it had infused him with hope and happiness as he walked to… to…He frowned. For some reason he couldn't remember. But anyway, the spiritual pressure around this place was wrong. It seemed to pull at him as he walked. He scowled. _Alright, so the guy said to find pages. How many notes are there? Did he even say? I don't have time to run around looking for several hundred pieces of paper!_ Ichigo stopped and sat down. _Alright, so what are my options? I can look for these notes, and hope that I don't die, try to find a way to kill him, or try to escape. _He looked up. There was a light fog rolling in, still enough to see in, but it troubled him. If the fog got heavier, he wouldn't be able to… Ichigos eyes widened. _That bastard! He knew that I might get the idea to escape, so he is making it harder for me to navigate. What else can this guy do!? _He looked around quickly, expecting Slender to walk out of the fog any minute, but there was no sound, no movement. _I need to play the game. I'll figure out how to kill the guy later._

He turned and began walking into the fog. The forest had been creepy in the dark, but it looked ghostly with the fog approaching. The sky began to lighten, but as dawn approached, the fog simply got thicker, until all Ichigo could see was the fog. It was silent. There were no birds, no insects, no animals out when they should have been. He stumbled over something, looking down to see himself standing on the remains of the campfire. Looking at a tent, Ichigo quickly climbed into it, settling down to sleep. He didn't need anymore horrors of the day. As his eyes closed, a deep sense of unease settled down upon him. What he saw startled him awake just as his eyes closed. He closed his eyes again. There it was again. The door. Ichigo didn't understand. He looked around, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He was in the center of what appeared to be an enormous ballroom, clean and well lit. Everything was dust free, and the lights were simply brilliant. There were expensive rugs on the edges of the ballroom floor, where a grand piano sat, creamy yellow green wallpaper covering the wall around it and the ballroom. Everything here was obviously expensive, and made Victorian style. Ichigo looked around, when something caught his eyes. On a spiral staircase to the right of the door he was staring, was a small square of white paper. He walked over to it, wondering what it was doing there. He walked up to it and picked it off the wall. The page seemed to contain a poem. Ichigos eyes narrowed as he read it. Suddenly, a woman's melodic voice echoed through the chamber, and the piano began to play itself. The song was slow and sweet, but it felt dangerous. Ichigos eyes widened as he realized the woman was singing the poem of the page. It was a song!

**Dream a little dream of me, **

**Dream a little dream of dying.**

**The soul of the world is hungry,**

**And its coming back for more.**

**Dream a little dream of living,**

**Wishing and hoping to stay alive.**

**The futile pleading and crying,**

**Makes death beautiful all the more.**

**The clock counts down,**

**To your final hour.**

**Count your minutes well,**

**And feel your sorrow.**

**The end is coming,**

**The end is near.**

**The end is something,**

**All should fear.**

**The world is spinning,**

**It disregard the lives,**

**That live upon it and sustain it**

**It wouldn't care if they died.**

**The people are a selfish race,**

**The Earth shall take them all.**

**And bring them to a hateful place,**

**Deep within its halls**

**The end is near, the end is here,**

**The Slender arms of time.**

**The shadows bestow they're dead embrace**

**Upon your greedy soul.**


	6. Imagined

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 6- Imagined

The being patrolled the mansions halls, the yellowish walls around it seeming to bleach white as it passed by. It was angry, wrath rolling off of it in waves, permeating the atmosphere around it. The light grew brighter, then exploded as his anger continued to grow. The boy, he had actually attempted to hurt HIM! He who was as old as time itself, he who had taken countless souls, he who was more powerful than a god could ever hope to be. Slender was not prone to forgiveness, and he certainly wasn't going to forgive this ones transgressions. His face writhed for a moment before a deadly smile split open his face. He was going to enjoy tearing this one apart, bit by bit.

As the haunting melody of the music died away, Ichigo stood still in the ballroom. He couldn't see anyone, but that didn't mean that there was no one here. He looked at the piano, and then began searching through the entire room, but found no sign that anyone had been here other than himself. He walked to the double doors at the other end of the room, then stopped. He looked around the room. _Alright. There are two sets of stairs that look like they lead to the same place. There is a set of doors in front of me. Did I miss anything. _Ichigo turned around, noticing a balcony at the back of the room, with stairs leading down from it. He looked at it, considering. _I don't know what is on the other side of these doors, or what is on the stairs, however, the balcony stairs are dark, so I wont be able to see if there is anything out there. _He picks the doors, yanking them open to show a well lit hallway. _I have no doubt that bastard Slender followed me into this dream, if it is even MY dream. Who's to say that it isn't his dream and he dragged me into it?_

The hallway dimmed as he progressed farther into it, the wallpaper peeling from the walls, showing rotting wood covered in gashes and blood. A large steel door lie at the end of the hallway, and he opened it. He appeared to be in a kitchen. The clean and shining kitchen sharply contrasted with the dark walls outside the door. The door closed behind him. He turned to go back into the hallway, but the door had disappeared. Ichigo looked at the wall for a moment. Then he began exploring the room. He picked up a large cleaver sitting on a metal counter in front of a row of cooking supplies, fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, and several uncooked steaks surrounded by a number of foreign spices. It looked as if the room was used not two minutes ago. There was a piece of yellow paper hanging on top of a rack. It was a menu, but some of the letters were bent instead of straight:

_**O**_rder Se_**v**_en

M_**e**_dium Well Si_**r**_loin S_**t**_eak

Under_**h**_ill Hous_**e**_ Salad

_**J**_am_**a**_ican F_**r**_uit

Ichigos eyes widened as he read the menu. It was a message. _**Over the Jar**_. Ichigo looked up. Above him was a shelf that contained filled jar all about halfway full with some sort of ingredient. _Alright, which jar is it? There are like fifteen different ones. _He climbed up onto the counter. Looking at the jars from above, he could see a space where a jar should be. He reached into that space, pulling out a jar much smaller than the rest. On top of it was a key tied to it. He walked over to the only other door in the room labeled **Meat locker**. Ichigo stuck the key into the lock and walked forward… into thin air. Ichigo sucked in his breath as he plummeted toward the ground, unable to scream. He hit the ground hard. Clenching his fists from the pain, he stood up. He was outside, on a balcony over a cliff. This landing was a floor lower than he was before. Small tables with umbrellas could be seen quite clearly in the full moons light. A small picture was attached to the table in front of him, what appeared to be a crudely drawn picture of Slender. He pocketed it, knowing that it, along with the song were pages that Slender wanted. He was getting tired with this game. He needed to get out of here. And he needed to do it soon before… The presence of Slender immediately appeared behind him with extreme speed. Ichigo turned around. Slender was running towards him almost at shunpo speeds, his arms outstretched. What was different this time was his face. There was a tear across it. From that tear came a glittering set of gigantic sharp teeth. Ichigo took one look at Slender as he ran. _If he touches me, I am so dead. _He looked out over the cliff. There was nothing but an ocean below him._ Dammit! _Ichigo thought as he climbed on the safety railing. _This has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever done! _He jumped. The last thing he heard was Slender roar in anger. Then he hit the water.


	7. Limbo

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 7- Limbo

When Ichigo hit the water, it felt as though a ton of bricks hit him out of no where. He felt weighed down, he couldn't move, he couldn't breath, he couldn't do anything but watch as he sunk further into the depths… and then he awoke.

"Pwahhh!" He spat out a stream of water out of his mouth, coughing heavily. He lay on the bottom of the tent for a while, before finally getting up and going outside. The camp was again lit by the fire in the middle. He pondered what he had done and seen. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the song and the picture. His eyes widened. _So it was real. How is that possible? _Ichigo pulled out the digital recorder. He hadn't listened to it in a while, and it was time to get some answers. He pressed play.

_March 30__TH__ - "The forest is hiding something, something dangerous. I can't believe that something like what I saw exists. David is gone, and while I hope that this disappearance isn't connected to the others, I have a sinking feeling the David is not coming back. Michael and I are the only ones left. We're going hunting tonight. This spirit, whatever he is, is not friendly. I don't know if pistols will do anything to it, But we can't do nothing. We won't do nothing. We are taking our lives in our own hands now. I just hope that we survive this._

Ichigo heard white noise coming from the device. He wondered how that had turned out. He shivered, remembering his own attempt to kill Slender. He turned his attention back to the recorder at the sound of heavy breathing.

_March 31__ST__ - Final entry. If anyone ever finds this, listen to me right now. I am not sure, but what I am about to say just might save your life. There is a creature in these woods, more terrible than anything the world has ever seen. It feeds on the souls of living people, and tears their bodies apart to get to it. The pain is agonizing. I watched my friend Michael be killed by it. It is not pleasant at all. Stay away from sources of incomplete light such as flashlights. Look for places in either complete darkness, or complete light. Its shadows cannot touch you in either place. Fire won't work, but it will slow him down. He will appear as a suited man, or take on the form of your loved ones, but do not trust it. The pages are the key, the key to its destruction, but I don't know how. It is impossible to escape. The creature has trapped me in a sort of Limbo. It covers the entire campsite. But He is already here. You must destroy him somehow. I hope you survive the encounter._

- The voice sounded slightly farther away and muffled now, but Ichigo could still hear what was going on. What the man was saying. 'Come out beast! You killed my friends, now you will face pain before I die!' Ichigo heard several gunshots before there was silence. The recorder had shut off. Ichigo placed it on the ground, digesting what he had heard. _So there is a way to kill this guy, or at least keep him down for a while. The pages are the key? What do they do, give me a set of instructions- wait. _Ichigo took all of the pages out of the pocket, reading the ones he had. _He can't die, but he can be stopped. He will always know the general direction of where I am. He is a spirit of the Earth. He can't do anything in complete darkness, or complete light. Fire will slow him down…_ Ichigo started to smile. _I might just have a way out of this._


	8. Loneliness

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 8- Loneliness

The branches of the trees near the edge of the woods scratched and hit Ichigo in the face as he walked through them. He finally got irritated enough to start using Zangetsu as a wood cutter to part the branches. _How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? _He thought absent mindedly. _Why, as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, I think. _After more walking, Ichigo came upon a clearing with a small shed, its only door wide open and a light coming from it. Ichigo looked at it warily, before deciding to try to go past it. He didn't want to risk it. On the other side of the shed a light flickered on. Ichigo walked towards it, to find another sheet of paper lay taped to the wall. This one said:

**NONONONONONONONONONO! **

"What the hell?" Ichigo said. _Its like the page knew what I was going to do. _The letters on the paper suddenly disappeared, and were replaced by a new message, a message that both surprised and chilled him.

**That's because we did**

"What are you?" Ichigo asked. "How are you able to talk, um write, to me like this?"

**We are the remains of the souls that the creature named Slender failed to completely devour. However, we do not have enough power to move on to the next world, thus we inhabit the pages IT uses to play its little games. IT cannot reach us without destroying the page, no matter how much it wants to, but we cannot leave this life. You are the only one that we know who could possibly win the game, seeing that you have survived 3 encounters with IT**

"Souls? But why haven't you become hollows yet? I don't see how possessing paper will stop your chain of fate from corroding." Ichigo asked. The letters shifted yet again.

**Slender feeds on the emotions of a soul first. It devours its fears and regrets first, then the positive emotions of a soul. It swallows our chain last. The process is extremely painful, especially when he eats the chain. Suffice it to say, we are all souls without chains of fate, however, without anymore regrets, what reason do we have to hollowfy?**

"Okay. Can't Slender just eat the page that you are inhabiting to get to you? And why are you suddenly talking to me now? Why didn't you start talking when I picked up the first page earlier?"

**You do not understand. Countless people have been trapped within this forest, their souls long gone. Many do not even reach the first page before being devoured. We despaired of anyone ever winning IT's game. The last time we awoke was 10 years ago, when a man named Joseph Pierson attempted to kill IT. While his physical body did not survive, his soul did, and he is the one who convinced us to help you. Don't let us down boy. We have been waiting years for this. Don't make this conversation to have been in vain. You have to find us all, and free us all at the same time. It is your only chance to win against IT.**

The words on the page disappeared at returned to the original message. Ichigo wondered how long exactly had that page sat there taped to that shed as he watched person after person walk into the forest, only to be eaten by a monster he or she could do nothing about, there only company being other victims that had survived the attack. If it were Ichigo, he would probably want to forget about the people too.


	9. Darkness

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 9- Darkness

Ichigo looked at the shed. The paper made no more words appear, so he assumed it was done talking to him. He walked back around the shed to the flickering light inside the door. It was a large television, with static rolling across the screen. Underneath it was a video cassette player, with a tape next to it. _Jason vs. Freddy _was written on it in black marker, he picked it up, wondering if it had any special significance. After all, the page had told him to stop here. _There must be something…_ He put the tape inside the player, and began fast forwarding after the opening had played. As Jason killed Freddy, Ichigo stopped the tape, and moved closer. His eyes widened.

With one fluid movement Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu and stabbed it into the screen. The television promptly exploded, showering him with burnt plastic, and short circuiting wires. But he had what he needed. Taped to the mother board was another page. And this one was a crudely drawn map, with the message

**Take it, before it takes you**

Scrawled across the top. Ichigo looked at it then looked at the map. It pointed to the campsite, represented by a star. The campfire. It was time to move.

He began to trek through the forest again, stopping every once in a while to try and sense Slender's presence, but it was as if he had just disappeared. Ichigo stopped. _Disappeared. _If that was true then he was in trouble. _If Slender could just disappear from my senses, then I will never know where he is. In fact he could be…!_ Ichigo whipped around, sword already in mid-swing, cutting into a shadowy tentacle behind him. Slender was standing there, staring at him eyelessly, and the air of malevolence that normally surrounded him came back, full force. Ichigo gritted his teeth, knowing he had to get away, but not sure how to beat him. He had to get to the camp. He lifted his blade, and leapt forward, only to meet a wall of black tentacles, which picked him up and threw him through several trees. He quickly reached into his pocket and took out his soul phone. No signal, but that was fine. He didn't need one for what he was about to do.

A flash of light went off in front of Slender, lasting only a moment, but a moment was enough. It shrieked in pain and anger, its arms covering its face, its tentacles dispelled for a moment. Ichigo took that moment to run full force in the direction of the campsite. Slender closing in behind him.

**Move faster kid, he's getting closer**

The letters on the top of the map changed, like the page on the shed had. Ichigo scowled as he avoided trees and Slender's pursuit. "And who are you supposed to be?"

**My name is Joe**

"Joe? The Joe? The same Joe whose recorder I was listening to?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

**Yep, that's me. Listen there isn't much time. When you get to the camp, the fire will be burning, just like when you first got there. You need to take all of the pages that you collected and destroy them. That will weaken Slender enough that he can be stopped. You just can't completely kill him. Not you. One day, someone else will come along and finish the job, but for right know, you will have to do.**

Ichigo burst into the clearing, with the burning campfire clearly visible, with an extra burst of speed he shunpoed as quickly as possible towards it. He took all of the pages he had collected, and destroyed them all in one go. And that's when everything went to hell.


	10. Apocalypse

Faceless

A Bleach and Slender crossover

Chapter 10- Apocalypse

Ichigo watched the fire consume the papers. He saw the souls flying out of the papers, gratitude evident on their faces before they disappeared. Then a suffocating wave of murderous rage flew past him staggering him, the wave 10 times as powerful as the first time as Slender let out a vicious bloodcurdling screech. Ichigo watched as his tentacles plunged into the ground. Nothing happened. Ichigo looked at him. _What is he doing? Creature of the earth! More like a monster from the great beyond! He is almost worse than Aizen!_ The ground began to rumble, trees falling down, cracks forming in the ground leading towards him. The campfire turned in a giant pillar of flame, erupting from the ground and continuing up, far into the night sky. The sky turned from black to a dark sickening purple. Ichigo stepped back as the ground he was on began to separate, revealing molten rock underneath him. The tents caught fire, poles melting crashing to the ground.

Ichigo could not believe the destruction that this creature had wrought. And all in the span of a couple minutes. _There is no way I can beat this thing. Its simply impossible. It destroyed the camp in seconds! How the hell am I supposed to stop something that powerful!? _Slender began to change, his white face turning black and growing, opening two slits on it, one turning into a huge mouthful of pointed teeth, the other becoming four pairs of ghastly eyes sockets, deep, black, old as time…and very, very angry. Six extra arms ripped out its sides. His Italian suit lengthened, growing larger, and thicker, bulging out. Tentacles covered its entire back, and he reeked of blood and death. The giant abomination of a spider looked at him, bloodlust radiating from it. It roared in anger. "_**YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD CHALLENGE ME!? ME! BOY, I AM A THOUSAND TIMES YOUR AGE, AND I NEVER LOSE! **_It was all Ichigo could do remain standing under the onslaught of the creatures voice._** YOU DARED TO TRESPASS ON MY LAND, FREE MY SLAVES, ATTACK ME! SON OF DIRT, YOU WILL DIE TODAY! I WILL TORTURE YOUR, RIP YOU APART LIMB FROM LIMB AS YOU BEG AND PLEAD FOR MERCY! DIE!**_"

Giant black tentacles lashed out at Ichigo, punching him through the air, to land on a large rock. He stood up, dizzy from how powerful the hit was. He reached for his sword, but Slender was already coming. He knocked Zangetsu to the ground part of the blade sinking into the lava, then picked up a flaming tree and hit Ichigo with it, sending him into another boulder. Ichigo dodged the next strike. Then picked up a hot rock, ignoring the screams of pain that his body was sending him, and lobed it at one of Slender's eyes. It hit, and with a loud sizzling, the socket popped, sending hot blood, black as night, rolling into the magma at its feet. Slender screamed it pain, moving backwards as the rock burned its way into its head. Ichigo picked up Zangetsu, the blade glowing from the intense heat, and jumped up, stabbing Zangetsu into the roiling mass of tentacles that covered Slender's back, and was sent flying as Slender bucked.

As he was flying, The spider jumped at him, mouth wide open, burning sockets filled with hatred. _So this is it. _Ichigo thought. _I get eaten by a mutant spider that's old as dirt. Perfect. _Time seemed to slow, as Slender grew closer, and something snapped inside Ichigo. "NO! I wont die cause of you! I got people waiting for me to come home!" He yelled. He raised his sword. "BANKAI!" An explosion knocked Slender out of the air towards the molten rock below. Ichigo stood in the air, his tattered cloak, waving. "**Getsuga Tensho!**"

The great spider looked on as the great wave of energy rushed towards him. _**He bested me. **_It thought. _**For the first time in generations, I have been brought low by a child of dirt. **_As Slender was pushed deep into the molten rock, his thoughts were filled with darkness. The magma closing over his eyes, he spoke one last time. _**Boy, you have won. But I am by no means defeated. One day, very soon, you will lose to one you cannot beat, and I will be there, watching as you fall, watching as you succumb to despair, watching as you die…**_ And then there was silence.


	11. Light

Ichigo walked into the Seiretei and sat down gazing at it in wonder. He had never thought that having the ability to be here while he was still alive was anything close to a miracle. It was always a duty, a privilege to be here and to use this power to protect others. But the fight with Slender had changed him. He could understand now why his father Isshin gave up his life here for his mother. There were things out there that you didn't want to meet. Yet once you found them, they stayed with you, even dead. Even gone. He sighed, standing up and walking towards the Rukongai, the outer rim of soul society. He needed a break, even a small one would be good right now. Maybe a week? Surely that wasn't too much time.

He greeted Jindabo as he made his way through the gate, heading to the captain commanders office. He met no one on his way there. Reflecting on the eerie silence that hung over the place, he came to the conclusion that perhaps they were just asleep. After all, it was night right now. He kept moving. A sense of wrongness lay over everything, and Ichigo felt like he was supposed to be remembering something (Spider)

Something big. He had a feeling that what was going in wasn't natural. It reminded him a bit of Tosen's shikai which dulled the senses so that no one could see

(Shadow)

hear, or smell,

(Don'tlookorittakesyou)

anything that was going on around them,

(DON'TLOOKDON'TLOOKDON'TLOOKDON'TLOOK)

rendering them unable to fight, to resist.

(_**DONTLOOKDONTLOOKDONTLOOKDONTLOOK**_)

"Ichi-nii? Is that you?" a small voice asked behind him. Ichigo turned around

(_**DON'T LOOK GODDAMNIT NO!**_)

And looked at his younger sister. "Yuzu? What are you doing here?" She stepped forward hugging him in a tight embrace. "Ichi-nii, thank goodness. I was so scared. But I am glad that you're here."

(_**RUNRUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**RUN**__**!**_)

_**CRUNCH!**_

Ichigo stared as his sister stepped away from him. She had no eyes and a dark smile was on her face. Ichigo watched as she fell to the ground twitching as a sickly dark vapor exited her mouth, reforming as a familiar Italian suit. "You!" Ichigo gasped, as he looked down, a razor sharp knife embedded in his chest, right between his ribs. He fell to his knees, while Slender turned and walked away. Ichigo lay there, gasping and choking, staring at his dead sister as she slowly dissolved into spirit particles.

"I'm sorry. I failed you Yuzu. I failed everyone. And that creature will kill everyone here. I wasn't enough."

"Who told you that?" Ichigo looked to his side. A man stood there, but his vision was getting blurry, and it was hard to make out his face. "You performed perfectly, and allowed me to gather the power to seal him back."

Ichigo stared at the man, a look of bleary incredulity on his face. " You…can do…that? Please…help them." He fainted.

The man looked at the prone form in front of him, a kind smile on his face. "Don't worry my boy. When this is all over, you wont remember any of it." He turned and walked towards the dark suited man.

"Fear! Destruction! Rage! Darkness! I call your many names in the sealing I perform tonight! Return to your home of Death and Despair, for your works of evil are stopped tonight! Your life here is forever more ended! You will feed in a place far from here, were another guardian shall banish you hither to the next earth! Bow to the command of the earth herself!" Slender turned to look at the man. "And who are you to command me to complete this ritual? Know your place!"

The man stood calmly as Slender walked towards him. "I am the spirit king, and I said _Be gone!_" A blinding flash of light appeared, ripping Slender apart and sucking him into it. The faceless creature let out a haunting wail as its essence was sucked away, and then the light too was gone. The spirit king looked around him, seeing the absence of Shinigami, and realized he was done here. With a wave of his hand, time reset, in the Seiretei. The sun returned and the Shinigami reappeared, as if nothing had been happening mere minutes ago. The King smiled. No one would ever know what happened. And the horror would never return. He turned around and opened a door to the royal dimension. It was time for a nice cup of coffee.

In a dimension far away, a portal opened forming the figure of a dark suited man. It saw without eyes, and so could see quite clearly the school in the distance, the scarecrow, and the road leading to it. _Yokai Private Academy?_ A feeling of amusement washed over it. _I have much, much work to do._ It thought, melting into the shadows.


End file.
